A
Kentucky bow hunter has pled guilty to a misdemeanor and will pay
restitution of $15,000 for illegally killing a female grizzly bear in the
Island Park area in September 2002.

Dan
Walters, 46, of Dry Ridge, Kentucky, entered his plea yesterday before
U.S. Magistrate Judge Larry M. Boyle in federal court in Pocatello. In
addition to the restitution, Walters will be prohibited from hunting for
two years.

Walters
and two friends were hunting in the Sawtelle area when Walters encountered
two bears, one larger than the other. Believing they were black bears, he
shot the larger one in the right hind quarter, then tracked the two
briefly before returning to his truck. The next day, Walters and three
other men found the dead grizzly and discovered it was wearing a tracking
collar. Walters admitted that he removed his arrow from the bear and
buried it.

The
300-pound 7-year-old sow was a pioneer bear important to the repopulation
effort in the Idaho portion of the Yellowstone Recovery Zone. She was
collared in the fall of 1999, and monitoring since then showed that she
routinely traveled between Yellowstone and the Sawtelle Peak area.

The
grizzly bear is listed as a threatened species under the Endangered
Species Act and is protected from illegal take.

U.S.
Attorney Tom Moss commended the joint investigation by the U.S. Fish &
Wildlife Service and the Idaho Department of Fish & Game.